During the tyrannical reign of Charles I of England, thousands of pious and wealthy persons left their homes in Great Britain to make new homes in the wilderness of the New World. Among those who came to New England was Edward Elmer, the first of the family line traced in this work. No record of his birth and parentage has yet been found, but he probably was born about 1610. He came from Braintree, Essex County, and took passage for New England from the Port of London in the ship Lion, Captain Mason, Master, on 22 June 1632,* and arrived in Boston on 16 September 1632. He settled first in Newton, now Cambridge, but in 1636 he was one of the company who went with the Rev. Thomas Hooker through the wilderness to the Connecticut River and settled at Hartford, Connecticut, and Mr. Elmer was one of the original proprietors of that town, where some of his descendants still live, one of whom is Hon. Samuel E. Elmore, President of The Connecticut River Banking Company. Edward Elmer was probably married in Hartford. His wife's name was Mary -. Her family name is not known. He was killed by the Indians during King Philip's war at Podunk, now South Windsor, Connecticut in June 1676. ®2248 Hartford was a Dutch trading post in 1633. It was settled as Newtown in 1635 and renamed Hartford in 1637.